yup, agree totally with that, Steve. Just amuses me that, up until recently, nobody except a few thousand of us either knew or cared about a throwaway line from Engin in “The Deadly Assassin” back in 1976!

Hah! Yeah the Deadly Assassin has a lot to answer for. I always just assumed it was going to be hand-waved at some point (“I don’t know: 507 lives?”)

I have a small confession: despite regaining a love for Who in 1989 and my subsequent sadness at having the show cruely taken away… There was a small part of me that was a bit relieved when the Doctor walked off with Ace to unseen off-screen adventures. I thought, “well at least they won’t have to address that whole 13 lives thing!”